Sweet Home Quilt Co.

I …   … !!!

Browsing Pinterest is one of my favorite past-times when I am wide awake at 2AM, or when I’m waiting at the doctor’s office. And I know many of you are the same way … you’ve told me! So much inspiration and so many creative ideas — just makes you want to save them all! It’s easy just to pin, pin, pin, but do you ever think about actually making any of those cute projects or actually cooking any of those yummy-sounding recipes?

That thought (and some gentle prodding from my friend, Roseann at Rosebud’s Cottage!) is what prompted me to host a Pinterest Party at the shop on Super Bowl Sunday. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than being inspired and having a little creative fun? So I searched through our Pinterest boards to find some favorites pins … not easy ‘cause they’re ALL favorites! … and got busy actually making some things to share at our party.

We were really busy…more than 60 people RSVP’d to attend…and I completely forgot to get any pictures during the party! But I did take a few pictures of the projects before I cleaned everything up, and I promised I’d share so here we go…

Pincushions, tool caddy, muslin flowers, yummy sugar scrubs (Mango Margarita and Peppermint!) — all were quick to make. The tape measure garland was another quickie – a 120 inch tape measure, cut into six-inch lengths and stapled together like we used to do paper chains – easy peasy!

The little floral table topper was designed by Roseann and was a less-than-an-hour project finished off with cute little crochet flower trims. Instructions for the blue polka dot ORT Jar have been around for a while, but it is one of my favorite projects to make ever! Definitely not hard once you understand how to make it. I haven’t had much experience with Mod Podge, but I was still happy with my Valentine’s Button Art Tile. It’s a regular white bath tile with Valentine scrapbook paper mod-podged on and then buttons glue on in a heart shape. Getting those buttons to fit in a heart shape was the hardest part!

More fun projects I made, although these weren’t quite as quick to do as some of the others. A friend had made me a wine cork bulletin board several years ago, and I knew I wanted to share the how-to when I pinned the instructions. A great excuse to drink more wine! The Valentine Topiary was a really fun project to do using wool felt…this will be a decoration I can use from year to year.

The Cherry Blossom Branch canvas was probably my favorite of everything I made. It was so fun to do using not a paintbrush, but a rather unusual tool to paint the blossoms …

Look closely — it’s a Coke® bottle! The instructions were for a two-liter bottle, but I didn’t want the picture to be that big so I downsized to a 20 oz. bottle. I felt like a budding Picasso! (no pun intended!) This would be something really fun to do with the kiddos!

A fun, no-sew pillow (just wrap it like a package and tie it!) and a girly ruffled tea towel finished off the project display.

Everyone who came to the party was able to do a little crafting, too, with our Make and Take projects.

Matchbook-style needlekeepers and stamped Duck Tape® greeting cards. Have you seen the cute Duck Tape® that’s available now — lots of fun designs to choose from!

Button Bookmarks couldn’t be easier, and make a really cute “just because” gift idea!

The fusible coasters project was a big hit! A quick gift easily personalized just by choosing the right fabric!

Many who came to the party have let me know how fun it was and that they were inspired to step outside the box and make some fun things. If you missed the party, hopefully you’ll be inspired to get creative, too, by the pictures I’ve shared. Find these projects (and lots of other fun stuff!) on our Pinterest boards and …

Edited 6/5/12: It has been brought to my attention that the link and graphics I originally provided in my post to this tutorial is a knock-off copy without due credit of an original post by Jona Giammalva on her blog here. I have edited the link and offer my apologies to Jona. It is never my intent to share tutorials or the work of others on this blog without due credit.

(diagram from http://jonag.typepad.com/)

A couple of days ago a customer came into the shop needing help with the instructions to make continuous bias tape. This is the method that I always use to make bias tape, and while it is easy for me to do because I’ve done it forever, it is not so easy to explain to someone who has never tried it. There are plenty of books that explain the method, some with better diagrams than others, but I found this tutorial that shows each step perfectly and makes the process so easy to understand. All it takes is one fat quarter to make five yards of bias tape (or you can use a larger square of fabric if you need more than five yards.) Here’s a great resource for calculating how much bias binding needed for your project, as well as yield charts from different cuts of fabric.

Oh, and one more hint, don’t use a Frixion pen to mark your cutting lines…when you sew that last seam and iron it open your marked lines will disappear…ask me how I know!

Melisa

I’ve been quilting more than 20 years and through the years have devised methods that work for me – they probably wouldn’t pass muster with the Quilt Police, but they work for me! This includes quilt bindings. My method for finishing binding ends invisibly works perfectly and I’d challenge you to figure out where my quilt bindings start and stop. But lately I’ve been making a lot of small projects and sometimes my method is a little cumbersome on small things and doesn’t always end up looking as neat as I’d like.

I was happy to run across this video showing an alternative method of finishing off the binding ends that I think will work very well on small projects. I’m going to try it this weekend on a bag I’m making…I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, you might want to try it, too!

Melisa

The laminate fabrics available today are fun to sew with, and almost as easy as sewing with regular cotton fabric. This video gives some great tips for sewing with laminates as well as easy instructions for inserting a zipper into a cute travel bag.

Check out our selection of laminates and whip up a few of these cute travel bags for Christmas gifts. And don’t forget our great selection of colorful zippers from Atkinson Designs to coordinate with your choice of fabric.

Melisa

Free motion machine quilting is like anything else…it takes lots of practice to master it and make it look good. And even once you master the basics, while it looks good, there are tips and techniques that will take it “over the top” without much more effort. Hyper quilting, a phrase coined by free motion quilter extraordinaire, Patsy Thompson, is one such technique.

Check out this link to Patsy’s blog where you’ll see how this simple technique can take your free motion machine quilting from “good” to “WOW!”

http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/blog/index.php/archives/247

Grab some cheapo muslin and start practicing! Be sure to check out the Education tab on Patsy’s website where she offers many machine quilting video tutorials that will help perfect your free motion techniques.

Melisa

I’ve used pizza boxes (new, of course!) for years to store projects in my sewing room, but those stacks of white boxes on the shelves are kind of boring. Today I ran across this video showing how to cover your pizza storage boxes with fabric…definitely not boring! The video makes the process seem a little labor-intensive, but I’m sure after making one or two, it will be easier and faster.

(The video is in two parts for some reason…)

Just think how much fabric you’ll actually use out of your stash to cover your storage boxes, and how pretty they will look on your shelves. I’m thinking a label with double-sided tape will do the trick for noting the contents, and when you finish a project (!!!) just change the label and add a new project to the box! Sweet!

This is going on my to-do list….send me pictures if you make some for your sewing room!

Melisa

Zipper details are the hottest new trend in fashion embellishment, popping up on everything from jackets to shoes to jewelry accessories. I made these fun zipper pins a couple of weeks ago when we celebrated National Zipper Day at the shop:

These embellishments are quick and fun to make, and don’t take any special skill or tools other than the zippers, scissors and needle and thread. We have the patterns and zipper yardage from Indygo Junction at the shop, and I thought I’d share this video showing a couple of other fun project ideas using zippers. Although she doesn’t show the bracelets on the right in the video, we have the felted balls in stock, too, which make a super cute and easy bracelet when combined with the zipper yardage.

Consider these as a fun summer project for your pre-teen or teenagers – they’ll love wearing their zipper embellishments to show off for their friends!

Melisa

My grandparents always had a large garden when I was young, and I spent many summer hours helping to freeze and can vegetables that would feed our extended family all year long. When I married I kept up the practice although our garden was much smaller and I’d have to supplement our harvest with trips to the farmer’s market.

I haven’t done much canning in recent years since the boys grew up and left home, but I can’t bear to part with the dozens and dozens of Mason canning jars in my garage. So I’m always on the lookout for unique ways to use them. I use them to store dried beans and pasta in my kitchen pantry, and in my sewing room filled with trims and buttons, and my grandson loves to fill a jar with fireflies he’s caught! I recently ran across this fun tutorial at the Hey Gorgeous website for rustic flower vases using Mason jars and twine…I can just picture these on the table for a summer picnic or barbeque or even as casual wedding decor!

Click here to get the step-by-step tutorial. I’ll be making these with some of my collection of Mason jars…maybe you will, too?

Melisa

Here’s another cute idea that I found during my nocturnal wanderings around the web. Easy peasy and you’ve got plenty of time to whip these up for all those gift cards you’re giving this year!

Gift Card Cozy 

Don’t limit these to Christmas time either…think about birthdays, anniversaries, thank you gifts, housewarming gifts…any occasion you might give a gift card calls for one of these cute cozies. So much better than just an envelope!

Enjoy!

Melisa

Many nights when my insomnia kicks in, I amuse myself by surfing the web or trying to catch up on the 1000+ blog posts in my Google Reader! I ran across this cute No Sew Christmas Tree Tutorial last night and thought I’d share it with you. It’s going into my “maybe next year” file, but you’ve still got time to make one this year if you hurry! Click here for the tutorial.

Enjoy!

Melisa